Bollywood Updates: StarPlus Will Be Airing All Their Shows Everyday, MultiChoice Silently Changes Channel Numbers For Two Channels And Zee One Picks Up Two New Series One Of Which Debut In October

Primetime gets a major boost on StarPlus

Star Plus is India’s #1 phgec channel, and always delivers the best, chart- topping shows. Now the great news is that viewers will get to see their favorite shows on Star Plus all seven days of the week starting from this Sunday, 2nd Oct, 2022.

Each and every show of Star Plus is utterly cherished by the audience for its gripping plots and realistic storylines. And now the viewers will get to see their favorite couples MaAn, AbhiRa, Yuvanni and others more often, which is sure to be delight for everyone.

The channel has continuously conquered the leadership on TRP charts with all its shows, i.e, ‘Anupama’, ‘Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin’, ‘Yeh Hai Chahatein’, ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’, ‘Imlie’, ‘Pandya Store’, ‘Rajjo’, ‘Anandibaa aur Emily’ and others. Now that we are being blessed with seeing these shows, not just 6 but all 7 days, it will absolutely change the viewing experience for many. It truly showcases the channel’s commitment to the audience and unwavering faith in their content.

Zee Cinema and WION move up on DStv

Last year, MultiChoice unveiled two new channels for the Indian bouquet Zee Cinema from Zee Entertainment Enterprises and WION from Essel Group as both were slotted respectively on channel 470 and 471.

After almost a year on air on the platform, MultiChoice decides to silently move them 10 spaces up with Zee Cinema now channel 460 and WION on channel 461 with no explanation as to why but our hunch has to be that they're trying to get the channels close together.

Honestly it didn't make any sense to have them with those numbers considering that there was hardly any barrier keeping them apart from other Indian channels.

Carmen and Untangled to be added onto Zee One

Zee Entertainment Enterprises wasn't kidding when they said Zee One was trying to be a spin-off to Africa's #1 Indian entertainment channel Zee World which is exclusively available to MultiChoice's DStv as they acquire two new dramas for the channel, Untangled and Carmen.

Untangled, Diya, a gully badminton player, meets Arjun, a former badminton champ from an affluent family, who resents his own kin. Will Diya bring back the much-needed positivity and hope in Arujns life? Don't miss the premiere on October 7th at 6pm CAT.

Carmen, follows a young woman who comes to Cairo to become famous and rich. She starts working at a big company and as a presenter in Alwan radio station. Having lied in order to win the position; the lies that follow give rise to many comic situations. Carmen falls in love with Tawfeeq and faces many problems, but finally wins Tawfeeq and marries him.

New Developments: Hot Girl, The Taoism Grandmaster And More Dubbed Content Coming To St KungFu

St KungFu, a general entertainment channel headed by StarTimes that is home to various martial arts based programming and movies. On top of serving as a rival Celestial Tiger's KIX channel on DStv will be introducing the following the shows from October, all of which are dubbed:

- Hot Girl: Guan Xiao Di is a rebellious girl. By chance, she enrolled into a bodyguard training center and befriended an arrogant boy and four talented girls. Through the grueling training program, she transformed into a legendary bodyguard. Dilraba Dilmurat and Ma Ke take on the lead roles. It premieres October 1st at 10:50 CAT.

- Sword, Snow, Stride: In a time of great upheaval a new king takes the throne and some at court worry he will not be as great as his father. The series is lead by Zhang Ruo Yun, Teresa Li, Qiu Xin Zhi and several others. It premieres October 19th at 20:20 CAT.

- The Taoism Grandmaster: It has been foretold over three thousand years ago that the apocalypse is impending and that one Taoist grandmaster will emerge to save the world. To give the people a fighting chance, the immortals have gathered a team of gifted individuals in. Tong Meng Shi takes on the lead role. It premieres October 22nd at 23:00 CAT.

- Guardians Of Ancient Oath: Driven by vengeance, the children of a warring chieftain join hands with the demon to regain their lost empire. However, the demon secretly plans on unleashing a deadly monster upon mankind. Leo Wu takes on the lead role with a premiere set for October 26th at 19:30 CAT.

4Racing Continues High Season Momentum With Topbet Spring Challenge Family Fun Day

Spring has sprung and 4Racing’s Topbet Spring Challenge Family Fun Day on Saturday 1 October is the perfect opportunity to enjoy the horses, warm weather, and a serene view of the city of Johannesburg from the Turffontein racecourse, with carnival-inspired entertainment for the whole family.

The event has no entry fee and will feature a family picnic area and kiddies play area with childminders. Additional exciting entertainment for the young ones will be face painting, edutainment shows, and pony rides.

The rest of the family can enjoy delicious, freshly made meals from various food stalls including one of Johannesburg’s favourite authentic Portuguese cuisine restaurants, The Troyeville Hotel Restaurant, party pop-up food stall StripCheez, and many other market-style vendors, craft beer, and gin bars. A DJ will provide live entertainment for music lovers.

Equestrian market vendors HH Feeds, Motherkind & Equigold, Equine 74, Back on Track, Interwoven, Highveld Horse Care, African Horse Wear, Equestrian Affair, and Cieli will also be exhibiting on the day.

It promises to be an exciting race day with the two main races, the Grade 2 Topbet Joburg Spring Challenge and the Grade 2 Topbet Joburg Spring F&M Challenge, drawing top entries and offering stakes of R400 000 and R300 000 respectively.

“4Racing’s goal is to build the world’s most loved horseracing experience for everyone, and we’re so excited to be partnering with Topbet to bring this unique experience to communities and families across Johannesburg, by spending a day at Turffontein and enjoying the exciting on-track experience,” said Fundi Sithebe, CEO of 4Racing.

4Racing is committed to working closely with bookmakers, owners, breeders, trainers, grooms, jockeys, and various partners. The Topbet Spring Challenge is the perfect partnership with industry players and the community.

Moonbug Entertainment Plans To Launch A Second Kids Channel With Its Own Set Of Entertainment

During the week, it was reported that the Moonbug Kids channel will be made available to DStv subscribers across 45 African countries this October with content like CoComelon, Blippi, Gecko’s Garage, Morphle, Arpo and recent acquisitions such as Little Angel and Oddbods.

With plans to launch a localised version in Turkey and expand it to further regions in Western Europe.

Moonbug earlier this year hired former Discovery exec – and former Digitürk chief content officer and CMO – Dilek Doyran as director, distribution and content partnerships, EMEA, to help take its business forward in the region.

In an interview with TBI sister title DTVE, Moonbug EMEA and APAC managing director Nicolas Eglau said Moonbug’s strategy of continuing to acquire more content that can be distributed in multiple ways also means it is now in sight of launching a second channel.

“We have so much content that I believe we would be able to launch a second channel in some markets,” he said, citing the model of Discovery in building a portfolio of brands.

The second channel would, he said, be targeted, like Moonbug Kids, at the pre-school audience but with a different mix of content and “a selection of brands that would follow a certain logic”.

In addition to launches of linear channels on pay TV, Moonbug also distributes content to SVOD players such as Netflix and public broadcaster’s digital platforms such as BBC iPlayer. Eglau says that YouTube will also remain central to the company’s distribution.

“We’ve really benefited from a shift in mindset,” said Eglau. “Five years ago it would probably be impossible to launch a linear channel with purely YouTube content, but there has definitely been a shift in perception of the quality of YouTube content.”

 

Hasbro Considering Selling Or Restructuring Its Assets

When Hasbro bought eOne under former CEO and Chairman Brian Goldner, who died unexpectedly last fall, the company was getting both valuable new intellectual properties — including PJ Masks and Peppa Pig — of benefit to its toy business, as well as knowhow in producing entertainment, giving the company a direct channel to cashing in from media made out of its own properties.

“The acquisition of eOne adds beloved story-led global family brands that deliver strong operating returns to Hasbro’s portfolio and provides a pipeline of new brand creation driven by family-oriented storytelling, which will now include Hasbro’s IP,” Goldner explained in a press release at the time. “In addition, Hasbro will leverage eOne’s immersive entertainment capabilities to bring our portfolio of brands … to all screens globally and realize full franchise economics across our blueprint strategy for shareholders.”

With the acquisition, Hasbro’s entertainment revenue jumped from $77.8 million in 2019 to more than $900 million in 2020 and topped $1.1 billion in 2021. The last two years have also brought operating losses in the entertainment division, in part from acquisition costs related to eOne. Hasbro, as Shaw noted, also ran into the disruption to the film and television industry created by the pandemic.

Under new CEO Chris Cocks, Hasbro launched a comprehensive review of its strategy and operations earlier this year as it looks to grow operating profit and focus on multi-generation entertainment.  

A Hasbro spokesperson did not comment specifically on the details of the Bloomberg report. “Entertainment is a core foundation at Hasbro,” the company said in an emailed statement. “As part of our strategic review process, we are always open to new and better ways to tell stories and bring people together through the power [of] play via our world-class family of brands.”

In April, Hasbro sold off one major asset from eOne — its music business — for $385 million.

Hasbro this year fended off a brush with activist investment firm Alta Fox, which had put forward a slate of three directors of its choosing to replace some current members of Hasbro’s board. Alta Fox pushed Hasbro to spin off its valuable Wizards of the Coast game business.

The activist firm also took a shot at eOne, saying in February that the acquisition “diluted Hasbro’s shareholders, added a substantial amount of debt to the balance sheet, complicated the investor narrative and destroyed significant value.”

 

International: Disney To Close A Further 3 Channels This Month

Last year, The Walt Disney Company unveiled plans to close a further 100 channels globally as more content goes onto the streaming service, Disney+. With MultiChoice carrying parts of these channels through 2024 means viewers have more time to unwind until the same occurs as seen in these regions.

Later in the year, it was reported that FOX in Turkey the only International feed to offer original content part of which has been supplied to e.tv such as Dokter Ali (Mucize Doctor), Doodsondes (Yasak Elma) and DisComplicated (Sen Çal Kapımı) will go off air by 2023.

Ahead of its demise, FOX Crime will suffer the chop by the end of this month which kind of coincides with FOX and FOX Life's termination in Africa as both were shuttered within the same period just years apart from each other.

In Italy, Sky was able to confirm that both National Geographic and National Geographic Wild will also go dark by the end of the month not only on their platforms but the whole region. This comes as the operator in that region just like DStv has seen a loss in channels.

Although it's not the distributor's fault when a supplier stops supplying a certain product. It is however their job to keep viewers entertained although the sad part about that is the alternatives will be nothing like these channels and viewers only hope at this point is Disney+.

With several households struggling to get fibre even a platform like DStv and Sky. Viewers will have to make due with what's already available to them.

Inside The Enduring Mysteries Of Elvis Presley's Tragic And Controversial End

“Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the 20th century,” the famous composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein told a reporter from TIME in the late 1960s. When the reporter prodded, skeptical, about the cultural influence of other legendary artists like Picasso, Bernstein merely reiterated, "No, it’s Elvis."

45 years after the iconic performer's death—with 108 Billboard Hot 100 hits, 129 charted albums, and 67 collective weeks at the top of the charts on his record—it's a sentiment that remains hard to argue with.

Ahead of Baz Luhrman's new biopic, Elvis , starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks (out June 24), we're taking a look back at the tragic end of the rock star's life.

When did Elvis die?
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron Presley would become one of the most recognizable musicians in the world by the time he passed away in his famed Memphis mansion, Graceland, on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.
That afternoon the singer was found by his girlfriend, Ginger Alden, lying unconscious on the floor of the master suite bathroom. Elvis was quickly taken by ambulance to the Baptist Memorial Hospital and, after attempts to revive him failed, was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm.

What caused his death?
Though Elvis's actual cause of death appears to have been heart failure, the cardiac incident is now considered to be a result of the rock star's longstanding and serious drug abuse.

Like many performers at the time, Elvis was a heavy user of a number of prescription medications including opiates, barbiturates, and sedatives. When the toxicology analysis of the performer's blood came back several weeks after his death, it reportedly showed high dosages of the opiates Dilaudid, Percodan, and Demerol, as well as Quaaludes and codeine, among others.

In the years following his death, Elvis' Memphis physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos aka "Dr. Nick" was implicated in the singer's death. In 1980, Nichopoulos, who began treating the star in 1967, had his medical license suspended by the state of Tennessee for three months for indiscriminately prescribing and dispensing controlled substances. According to the charges, in the last 20 months of Elvis's life, the star was prescribed over 12,000 pills and other pharmaceuticals, and carried three suitcases of them with him when he traveled. (As an explanation for the volume, Nichopoulos argued that these drugs were for the use of Elvis's entire entourage).

Nichopoulos later testified that he gave Elvis any medications he requested because if he didn't the star would simply get them from another prescriber, or possibly turn to street drugs.

In November of 1981, Nichopoulos was charged with 11 felony counts of overprescribing drugs, but was acquitted. He maintained his medical license until 1995 when it was permanently suspended by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners.

Why is there controversy around Elvis's death?
While Elvis's drug use (a trait he shared with many famous performers of the era including Johnny Cash and fellow Dr. Nichopoulos patient Jerry Lee Lewis) is common knowledge today, at the time of his death, Elvis, his family, and his team had largely managed to keep the more sordid details of his life private.

Immediately following the singer's passing, his family requested a private autopsy to determine the cause of death. Tennessee’s Chief Medical Examiner Jerry Francisco released the star's official death certificate a few days later, listing the cause as a coronary issue unrelated to drugs. “Elvis Presley died of heart disease, and prescription drugs found in his blood were not a contributing factor,” Francisco told American Medical News at the time. “Had these drugs not been there, he still would have died.”

Several of the other pathologists involved in the autopsy would go on to criticize Francisco's tactics (he was apparently favoring the family's privacy with his swift announcement) and conclusion. Multiple doctors involved reportedly argued that the musician's cause of death should have been attributed to a toxic combination of pharmaceuticals.

With the autopsy request coming directly from the family rather than at the state's behest, the full findings were sealed after the procedure. Multiple attempts were made over the years to get the documents unsealed, and a 1993 reopening of the investigation into Elvis's death was able to get the physician's notes, but not the autopsy itself, released.

Coincidentally Ballantine Books published a tell-all book, Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy, including stories from three of Elvis's former body guards, just over two weeks before the star's death. The book debuted with little fanfare and only became well-known once journalists and the public began denigrating Dunleavy, a former tabloid reporter, over his allegations about Elvis's drug use and carousing.

It wasn't until almost two years after Elvis's death that the possibility of drug connection began to be seriously reported.

Credits: LAUREN HUBBARD

Roundups #99: Best Bester To Premiere On Nicktoons Global Just Not South Africa, Ultimate Braai Master Renewed For A Season 8 On e.tv And BET Reportedly Expands Its Reach To More DStv Customers

Yikes, this is actually a TV show

Best and Bester are siblings and best friends obsessed with comparing the best things of all time while enjoying the power to transform themselves into anything they want, once a day – if only they can figure out what the best thing to be actually is!

Best & Bester (52x11) is a co-production between London-based studio Eye Present and Finnish studio Gigglebug Entertainment. Nickelodeon International acquired the pre-buy rights to the series in February 2020. The deal includes creative editorial input and broadcast commitment from Nickelodeon International, as well as YLE, The Finnish Broadcasting Company, and development funding from Creative Europe, a cultural support program run by the European Union.

The series has managed to air various Nickelodeon feeds internationally with Nicktoons set to debut it globally. Of course, Nickelodeon hasn't picked up the show just yet for audiences in Africa which could be the reason for its absence on Nicktoons.

Local is lekker on e.tv

The South African competition reality show Ultimate Braai Master will be back for an 8th season in 2023 on e.tv and will be switching to the Western Cape, with creator Justin Bonello stepping away as host but retaining judges Peter Goffe-Wood and Benny Masekwameng.

With a new host still to be announced, season 8 of Ultimate Braai Master will be on e.tv from 5 February 2023 at 17:00, with the show telling sources it will be filmed between 26 October and 2 December and in the Western Cape this year for 13 episodes after two seasons shot in the Eastern Cape.

The 8th season of Ultimate Braai Master will feature 10 teams having to braai all kinds of food in various locations in all kinds of manner, and will be filmed in the Western Cape. The upcoming season plans to "showcase the wealth of produce celebrated in the region, from free range dairy and grain fed cattle, to fresh grown organic vegetables from farm to braai to table".

BET to be made available to DStv Family and Access customers

BET an international entertainment channel owned by Paramount which is meant to cater for black audiences between the ages of 18-49 with shows like The Oval, Black Ink Crew and Mary Mary is said to be made available to more DStv customers from 26 September.

After launching as BET International in 2014 to DStv Family package, the pay-tv company opted to split the brand in half leaving those on the lower package with scraps before finally merging it back to a single channel after a year.

The expansion of BET to more DStv customers means viewers will be able to see the local drama Redemption while as Family customers will finally gain back the channel even though there's hardly much to browse on the brand aside from repeats.

 

What To Expect On KIX Africa In October 2022?

Hollywood Action! 
EVERY SATURDAY @ 7 PM (CAT) | 6 PM (WAT) | 8 PM (EAT)
KIX proudly presents 5 Hollywood blockbusters featuring the biggest movie stars this October!

Oblivion
Channel Premiere
1 October
Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman
On a desolate future Earth in 2077, a lone repairman finds himself questioning all he knows in a fight to save humanity against a new and evolving alien threat.

47 Ronin
Channel Premiere
8 October
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada
47 samurai vow to take revenge for their master and must seek help from an Anglo-Japanese outcast, Kai, to confront their enemy and fight their way across a savage world.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Channel Premiere
15 October
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt
An elite huntsman is brought up in a love forbidden kingdom to protect the queen, and is eventually caught in the rivalry between the queen and her sister.

Kindergarten Cop 2
Channel Premiere
22 October
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Bill Bellamy
In this action-comedy sequel, a tough FBI agent goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to recover some stolen data, but is ill-prepared for the classroom environment.

Lucy
Channel Premiere
29 October
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Choi Min Sik, Morgan Freeman
A woman who is accidentally involved in a drugs deal turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior with superhuman abilities.